Honiara Museum
p. 72 · Read in the full issue
Preserving Native Arts in BSI
From Our Own Correspondent HONIARA, January 7.
AS SOON as possible, the BSIP Govern ment intends to build a Museum at Honiara, and also a Curio Shop, to encourage native craftsmanship in the Protectorate, which, to everybody’s re gret, seems to be in some danger of dy ing out.
It is believed that some Mission schools hold annual exhibitions of carvings, model
canoes and so on, with prizes given for the best workmanship. At one school in the Marovo Lagoon an old man from one of the nearby villages has recently been appointed as a technical assistant to teach the children these traditional arts.
Modern examples of the fine mother-of pearl inlays on wood, in which the old craftsmen excelled, are seldom executed with the old detail and finish, and this is one art which it is hoped to revive.
Many of the best examples of old work manship were sold or given away to the American forces during the war, and comparatively few good pieces now remain in the Protectorate.